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The Woodies have a blog. It’s a kind of collective. Not sure we’re about to start a revolution baby, but we might kindle a small debate or two and perhaps raise a smile. Anyway, rather than just blogging corporate Woodreed by fielding our top Woodie (as so many other companies seem to do in a thinly veiled attempt at impressing with their profundity), we wanted all our individual voices to be heard. An agency’s most valuable assets are its people after all. Everyone’s got something to say here and with us everyone’s ideas and opinions matter.

Each week someone different will be blogging. It's mostly about stuff that rocks our world as well as the flipside – the things that just don't cut it with us. We'll blog about inside and outside – inside this glorious industry where we work and outside in the real world.
It's a bit of an experiment, so go with us on this one.

Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Malmaison - who dares wins with employee engagement success


Malmaison/Hotel du Vin, the hotel group that dares to be different,  needed to drive down costs but maintain customer service levels so in 2010 they introduced an employee recognition scheme called 'Wow' and, wow, has it paid off in spades.  Since then:
  • Staff turnover - down by 17%
  • Customer loyalty - up
  • Repeat business - up by 51%
  • Proportion of complaints related to customer service - down from 69% to 17%
  • Employee pride in working for Malmaison - up from 87% to 98%
  • Employee surveys - 96% consider customers service training excellent
And considered against Woodreed's employee engagement best practice framework, STRIPES, it ticks even more boxes:
  • Senior level backing - the scheme was launched by Malmaison's CEO
  • Training - employees are trained on how to provide an extra level of customer service
  • Induction - WOW training included in new starter programmes
  • Performance - top performers rewarded with tangible awards and recognised personally by the CEO
  • Engagement - engagement levels soared as the Malmaison team were trusted and empowered to do what they felt was right to delight their customers
Another cracking demonstration to any sceptical FD out there that investing in a robust, well thought out and competently delivered employee engagement programme will positively impact the bottom line.  

I'm thinking about how many other businesses there are out there who are struggling in the current climate and who are missing the opportunity to turn things around by taking a few simple and positive steps towards improving their employee engagement. With the estimated cost of employee disengagement to the UK economy running between £59 and £64bn per year what an impact this could have on the wider UK economy too. What's holding UK plc back?

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